Highlights of 2020

Despite the pandemic AVR achieved good results in 2020.

Renovation of the Utrecht transfer station

The transfer station in Utrecht (OSSU) is where the waste from Utrecht is stored and transhipped. A new contract was signed for this in March. AVR is modernising the facility and working method: We are making transhipping simpler and faster and switching from containers (and compressors) to the shipping of loose waste. This will save time and maintenance and be less susceptible to malfunctions. The renovated site will go into service in 2021.

AVR processes hospital waste

The corona virus caused a considerable increase in the volume of hospital waste. AVR fulfilled its social role by processing dry corona waste from hospitals and thus preventing the disposal of this waste from stagnating. Before taking on this worthy task AVR carried out extensive investigations and consultations with hospitals, medical waste processor ZAVIN, the RIVM (Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management), the Inspectorate for the Living Environment and Transport (IL&T) and the collectors.

Project Koploper (Frontrunner)

The waste and energy markets are constantly changing. Consider, for example, legislation, international developments, the residual waste offering and customers’ wished. This is reflected in our operational performance. AVR wants to remain a frontrunner. This is why we started the company-wide Koploper (Frontrunner) improvement project to enable us to respond quickly to the constantly changing market demand. AVR must be made future-proof. The starting point is the question: what can be improved? Experts have mapped out our working methods and advised us how we can do it better. We are drawing up a plan of approach covering virtually the entire AVR organisation: Koploper. This project will run until May 2021.

Operational challenges

This was another year that presented us with challenges. The corona crisis meant we had to implement stringent measures to protect our employees’ health and to keep our processes operating 24/7 as was expected from a company in a vital sector. We also had to keep readjusting our processes because the crisis affected the composition of the residual waste supplied to us for processing. But, despite everything, our stability and reliability were never, ever, compromised.

Outlook

In 2021 and the years thereafter our foremost attention points will be the further reduction of our CO₂ emissions, and those of our customers, and the circular application of CO₂. We will also focus on supplying energy in the most efficient and sustainable way possible and we will continue increasing the efficiency of our plant and improving our operational excellence in order to achieve better results. In this way we will achieve sustainable changes for AVR and for society.

Integrated annual reporting with KPIs

This was a small selection from the AVR  Annual Report 2020: Sustainable Change. Please read the full Annual Report, it provides a good picture of our results and achievements. With this Report we have taken a step towards more integrated reporting with KPIs for the important material themes:

• A safe working environment
• CO₂ emissions
• Innovation
• Reliability
• Recycling
• Renewable Energy
• Sustainable employability
• Other emissions
• Financial Stability